Everybody loves skeletons – a sweeping statement, I know, but it must be true! I’ve had this 28mm Skeleton Cavalry Sprue from Wargames Atlantic hanging around for quite a while. It’s about time I did something with it!
When the five minis were assembled, it left me with a large rounded sprue with a number of heads and many arms.
I started by cutting out small strips of sprue, all of the same length. Then I glued them together to make the body of a cart. Then I added an axle and two wheels, one made from the centre of the sprue and the other from the leftover shield.
As I had lots of little unusable bits left, I popped them into a jar of acetone to make some lovely sprue goo! When it had fully dissolved, I took the goo out of the jar and formed a flat sausage shape. Once that had solidified a little, I chopped it in half to form two standing stones!
Then, I carved out three square niches into each of them. This was so I could pop in the remaining skulls. Having only 5, I had to raid the bits box, but I did find a dwarf helmet, which fit perfectly! I got the inspiration from an Iron Age doorway that dates back to the 2nd/3rd century in France.
After glueing the two stones onto a base, I attached some posts to either side and made a crossbeam. While still having some sprue goo left, I rolled out a thin piece to make a banner. I finished it off by sticking all of it together. Then I realized that I hadn’t use the two oval bases yet. So I simply scuffed them up to make them look like shields.
I finished the whole build by getting a last blob of sprue goo. While it was still drying, I stuck all the remaining skeleton limbs and weapons into it and mounted the whole mass onto the back of the cart.
Painting them was easy. I primed the skeletons in white before adding a brown wash all over them. A quick dry brush in white and they were pretty much complete. For the cart, I just painted it brown.
As for the monument, I painted the wooden parts in the same way as the cart. The stones, I dried brushed them with grey and then a white to give them a classic stone look. For the banner, I wanted to give the impression that it was made from flesh. So I trickled large amounts of coloured washes to create that grimy and bloody look!
I really enjoyed this little project and it’s got me thinking, what other things I can make from my unused sprues!
And remember, don’t throw away your sprues, get creative and create something cool!
Missed these other Skeleton sprue projects?
Skeletons – Wargames Atlantic – Use The Sprue
Oathmark Skeletons – Use The Sprue